State-to-state kinetics and transport properties of electronically excited N and O atoms

Abstract

A theoretical model of transport properties in electronically excited atomic gases in the state-to-state approach is developed. Different models for the collision diameters of atoms in excited states are discussed, and it is shown that the Slater-like models can be applied for the state-resolved transport coefficient calculations. The influence of collision diameters of N and O atoms with electronic degrees of freedom on the transport properties is evaluated. Different distributions on the electronic energy are considered for the calculation of transport coefficients. For the Boltzmann-like distributions at temperatures greater than 15000 K, an important effect of electronic excitation on the thermal conductivity and viscosity coefficients is found; the coefficients decrease significantly when many electronic states are taken into account. It is shown that under hypersonic reentry conditions the impact of collision diameters on the transport properties is not really important since the populations of high levels behind the shock waves are low.